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In a now annual ritual, before dusting off the crystal ball for a look ahead, I look back. This space goes back to last year's prognosticating and takes a mostly objective look at the hits, misses and the times I (maybe) was just too far ahead of the game. It's important to acknowledge that sometimes being "right" isn't much of a victory -- see the presidential race recap below. And with that, let's take a look at the real 2015 through the haze of December a year ago.

[Due to travel, my 16 Predictions for 2016 will post either on the 1st or 2nd, stay tuned.]

Crystal ball time: With 2015 in the books, it's the time of year to dust off the crystal ball. Apparently, I'm not the only one who agrees (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

1) U.S. economy

I had growth of 3.0%, unemployment at 5.3%, tame inflation and wage pressure, with interest rate increases delayed till the second half. Overall, not bad. Unemployment is a bit lower, and growth won't exceed 2.5% for the year barring a huge Q4 (like many, I keep being over-optimistic on that one). That said one part looks particularly prescient: "And some Fed governors ... will begin making noise about what normal really looks like given three decades of disinflation, questioning the dogma around 4% rates." The long-run consensus has moved down to 3.25-3.5%.

2) Commodities and currencies

My expected oil recovery was instead an oil rout. The price of a barrel is half the $80 I expected. Oddly, this happened against the backdrop of the changes in the U.S. and the pressures in Venezuela and Russia I did call for. The Iran nuclear deal and continued OPEC chaos were not foreseen. The yen sits at 120/dollar, I was looking for a finish at 132 -- it never weakened that much. The Euro is at $1.09 vs. a $1.15 forecast. Not bad, and when I was in Europe I exchanged closer to my number. I had bitcoin being boring and it was, until November. While I saw it finishing the year higher and it did, the $100 bump wasn't on my radar. Still, lower volatility than past year is good news for the virtual currency.

3) Merger madness

Government killing Time Warner-Comcast? Check! Approving DirecTV-AT&T? Check! AOL trying to buy Yahoo? Nope, AOL swallowed by Verizon, and Yahoo still twisting in the wind.